It’s been a whirlwind month and a bit in North America for The Observer’s two World Cup reporters, Rory Smith and George Simms. Here, they recount their most vivid memories – and biggest regrets.
RORY
Best moment
Location for map: Seattle waterfront
The football correspondent answer to this could be one of exactly three things, all of them related to and inspired by Lionel Messi: the childlike joy of watching him score a hat-trick against Algeria; Argentina’s logic-defying comeback against Egypt; the narrative wonder of the moment that Lautaro Martínez broke English hearts. But the one that will stay with me was not something to write about: immediately after the United States’s win against Australia, I took a Lime bike along Seattle’s waterfront (there was an urgent podcast to record). The sun shone. The Puget Sound twinkled. The bars heaved. Everyone was having a wonderful time. In those 15 minutes, the World Cup had made people happy.
Wish I’d been there
Location: Foxborough, Massachusetts
It is the greatest privilege of this job that the World Cup is, for a few weeks every four years, the best place in the world to be. The calvary is that you can’t be at all of it. In those early weeks, I found myself seeing the United States getting a glimpse of the scale and power of the tournament through the medium of Instagram Reels, witnessing by remove its unrivalled ability to move vast throngs of humanity: the Dutch, the Argentinians, the Ecuadorians and, above all, the Scots in Boston. My Mum would be proud of the effect her early-years propaganda campaign has had: I lost at least one whole morning watching Flower of Scotland reverberating around Foxborough from technically different but actually quite similar angles.
Biggest culture shock
Location: Atlanta, Georgia (in stadium)
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Until relatively recently, this would have been how Americans react to seeing themselves on what we must, in this context, call a jumbotron. Instinctively, they whoop and holler and cheer and revel in this fleeting glimpse of highly localised fame. Like all British people, I was brought up to believe that the correct etiquette in this situation is to make the wanker sign as quickly and emphatically as possible. But during the course of the tournament, this has started to shift; in the semi-final, I saw at least three men in Crusader outfits dancing as if nobody was watching. That’s the World Cup: it’s all about learning from different cultures.
GEORGE
Best moment
Location: Azteca
It’s not often something so obviously clears such an extraordinarily high bar of hype, but England vs Mexico in Mexico City was sport on a level I couldn’t previously fathom. The combination of the Azteca’s past and present, the noise – which hit levels matching a shotgun going off – emitted by Mexico’s brilliantly passionate yet welcoming fans, and one of the great international matches was surreal. Hearing Three Lions immediately after the final whistle will always stick with me. The other obvious contender is the evening that started with Brazil 1-1 Morocco in New Jersey, before I was the first journalist on the media shuttle back through the Lincoln Tunnel to watch the New York Knicks win their first NBA championship in 53 years in Times Square. I also celebrated my 26th birthday in New York’s Koreatown before England vs Panama, but that’s a soju-soaked story for another day.
Wish I’d been there
Location: Kansas City’s Arrowhead
I watched Lionel Messi’s hat-trick against Algeria, the one that told the world he was still Lionel Messi and was also his first in a World Cup, in a Mexican restaurant in Fort Worth Stockyards. There was a tiny TV in the corner and the only table left faced in the opposite direction, so we had to contort ourselves just to watch, letting some overpriced fajitas go cold. It was also at Kansas City’s Arrowhead, probably the stadium I most wanted to visit but didn’t, alongside SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles. I was texting Rory – one of fewer than 10 English writers actually there – incredulous with jealousy, even if I got to watch England beat Croatia 4-2 the next day. In that way, the World Cup as a whole is slightly like New York – you’re always worried you’re missing out on something, that there’s a better pizza slice or museum or football match going on elsewhere.
Biggest culture shock
No location
Having covered every England match of this World Cup, I’ve often struck up conversation with fans in Gascoigne or Bellingham shirts on planes or trains, in restaurants or in bars. Anywhere else in the world, this would be a sure-fire way to grab a slice of home, but just as often here you’re met by: “Wee-yer rootin for y’all!” American fans have adopted England in a way I’ve never previously seen. This is entirely normal for Argentina or Brazil, but seeing “Rogers 17” on a teenager from Detroit has been a new experience. Of course, you can spot them with relative ease – usually by the box-fresh creases and unburdened grins. Sometimes it’s because of a grandmother or great-uncle twice removed, but often it is just because English football is now synonymous with Premier League football. There has also been a fresh scourge of fans wearing Premier League shirts to England games – almost exclusively mid-2000s Manchester United or the current Arsenal kit.
Photograph by Michael Regan/FIFA via Getty Images